New Dimensions

  Gardening is a most rewarding endeavour. When you plant a herb or a flower or a vegetable, you are creating a living thing that grows. You have to take special care of it to ensure that the plant survives, gets sufficient water, sunshine, and plant food to enable it to thrive. If you have done your job well and are diligent, you will reap a reward and receive what the plant produces - flowers, herbs, or vegetables. We have successfully grown all sorts of fruit, vegetables, and herbs which we picked just before eating. That way we get the freshest fruits that keep us healthy. I am in the process of painting the picture above with watercolours. The same applies to life! Work is therefore necessary and is a good thing.

     Inspired by the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles the Hurly Hills Private Care Hotel was created. Located in Hurlyvale in Edenvale this modern, spacious private care hotel was built with a Hollywood retro look. From concept to finished product, the buildings and furnishings started to take on a movie scene appearance with large pictures of actors as part of the décor. This was never overdone. Just a hint of Hollywood here and there, enough to give the place that special nostalgic feel. When it comes to activities for the residents they are not compelled to participate. They are, however, encouraged to take part in group activities. There are games like Sunset Boulevard Chess, Hollywood Hills Bridge, Las Vegas Meccano Building, and Puzzle Building activities. There are many more fun activities. Recently, they had a special birthday party celebration for one of the senior residents. All the staff joined the fun and it was a jolly occasion to the delight of the birthda...

 I love Pinterest because that is where I find inspiration from very talented people. It's a place where everyone shares their work. Since I am still learning how to create art I feel very humble being in the presence of others with amazing talent. I salute you all. The topic of today's blog post is sketchbook art. Since this is my very first piece I am submitting it not as a work of art as such but an exercise that I performed to see if I could produce a double page spread item and paint it with watercolours. I primarily just wanted to see whether or not the paint would show on the other side of the paper. One thing you have to understand is that we can look at what other people are doing but only through trial and error will we learn what works and how they created their work of art and what materials they used. That sounds simple but in reality it is not simple at all. I go through a whole learning process trying to emulate other artists. Sometimes I succeed when I make the ...

 When I was very young and still in primary school we lived in a small mining town in the northern Cape. Once a week we used to go to the club and attend classes in different sports. On one of those evenings, I walked into the large hall and was amazed to see that there were karate classes on offer. I immediately enrolled. First on the agenda the instructor started teaching us some basic moves which he called katas. From there on it was a regular thing, katas, and more katas. It was quite enjoyable, and I was getting quite good at it. I can’t remember what happened but after a while those classes stopped.  It was some time after that that I went to the movies and saw how the guys were using karate to defend themselves. There were the Karate Kid, Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon by Jackie Chan, and Enter the Dragon by Bruce Lee. Who could forget seeing Chuck Norris?  Yesterday, I was browsing You Tube and noticed a video about Chuck Norris who was commenting on Bruce Lee’s deat...

This majestic white spider lily flower was photographed by me on 10 February 2021. I believe that it was still towards the end of  the COVID 19 lockdown period. No hidden dangers. It's pure. It is exactly as beautiful as it is. Nothing false about it. Maybe that's why good women love flowers. When you give them with a good heart they tell a story of honesty. Flowers are pure and beautiful. So you are giving something pure and beautiful - a perfect gift. Enjoy this rare sight.

 Today is the day after Good Friday. Yesterday I enjoyed a fabulous Good Friday. My wife and I went to church and were treated to an excellent service after which we went to check out what's happening at our local shopping centre because the Pick n Pay had suddenly closed forcing us to drive further to other shops to buy our bread, milk, and groceries - very inconvenient. Fortunately, we were told that a Checkers is soon opening. We then went home but before we were there we decided to go to Evergreens shop to buy cake to enjoy with our tea. As we were about to enter the premises but found that it was locked with security guards patrolling the place. We had to leave feeling disappointed and wondering what's going on in our country. Massive shops and shopping groups just closing or not being open for business as usual! Very odd! In the meantime I had photographed some flowers in our garden and a yellow one that was growing in front of the main gate. When we arrived home I contin...

 About a year ago I was faced with a problem. My children and grandchildren were showing off their prowess in drawing and painting on a WhatsApp group where all our family members were connected. All I could put up on the group were photographs that I had taken which I thought were showing off that I was a bit creative. But they kept on putting up very nice paintings and drawings and I had nothing to show. When I was at school I used to draw a lot but that was about sixty years ago. Since then I had no reason to practice my art or drawing skills. At that time I had tried painting with watercolour paints but found that medium to be too much of a challenge so I stopped trying to paint. Sometimes I came across senior people who were producing these wonderful paintings on Facebook and admired them. So, last year I decided to give it a go again. What did I have to loose? I mean, if I at least tried properly, maybe I could paint something that would interest my family. Believe me, I was ...